WOC Middle Preview

The final individual race for WOC is the middle distance. Louise Oram, Emily Kemp, and Eric Kemp will be representing Canada for this race.

Start times are:
Louise Oram 12:58:00pm UTC (3:58am PST, 6:58am EST)
Emily Kemp  13:14:00pm UTC (4:13am PST, 7:13am EST)
Eric Kemp 14:50:30pm UTC (5:50:30am PST, 8:50:30am EST)

As with the long distance race, this race is the final! With the new WOC format there is no qualifying race. This means our runners have one shot to kick ass and take some names!

The LIVE CENTRE has been working really well this week. With live video, commentary, and GPS tracks, you are able to follow along all of the excitement from your computer! It costs ~$10 to watch 1 race live. If you don't want to get up early, or have to work, then you can always watch the action later on, as the TV and GPS coverage is free to access later in the day.

Emily Kemp finishing strong in the long distance on Wednesday. My sources say she's been resting up, and is ready to give it her all in the long distance!

To give you a taste of what to expect (from the WOC website): "Now the runners move into Campomulo, which is part of Asiago karstic highland, in the altitude of 1500-1700 meters above sea level. The landscape is characterized by many terraces divided by steeper areas. Vegetation varies from alpine pastures to open forests, mainly coniferous, and the ground surface is very rocky throughout reducing the runnability in the forest. Trenches from World War are very common in this area. The network of paths, tracks and roads is not very dense. Cross country ski tracks exist in parts of the area. Last year Leonid Novikov surprised everybody – including himself – by winning the World Champions middle distance in Vuokatti. Thierry Gueorgiou finished second after a one-minute mistake at control which he never managed to fully catch up. Sweden’s Gustav Bergman became third. Simone Niggli won Gold also on Middle after deciding a tricky middle distance for herself . She won with 27 seconds to Mari Fasting – and with nearly two minutes to silver medalist Tove Alexandersson who was in the lead at the beginning. 
Like in the long distance, today there will be everybody in the Finals. But who are the favourites to take the WOC Middle title in this year’s WOC in Italy? Will the best runners do mistakes in this technical terrain?"

The final race is the relay on Saturday. This is a 3-person relay in the forest, with women and men racing separately. Watch out for the preview tomorrow!